Prashant Gupta is responsible for the textiles-to-telecom conglomerate's e-commerce fashion venture Abof as its president and chief executive.MUMBAI: It took just a two-line email from Aditya Birla House, asking whether he would like to be part of the chairman's office, to induce Prashant Gupta to move on from his role as senior partner with McKinsey India.

Five years on, the 41-year-old is responsible for the textiles-to-telecom conglomerate's e-commerce fashion venture Abof as its president and chief executive.

“I see Abof emerging as the most admired player in online fashion within the next three years," said Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group.

“Prashant has the right profile and exposure to lead this fast-paced new generation business."

From a job as a programmer with India's biggest software exporter TCS in the mid-1990s to working with McKinsey, one of the biggest advisory firms, Gupta took another unlikely turn as he moved to head the advisory team at Aditya Birla Group.

But adaptability is something that he had learnt from childhood, said Gupta, since he shuttled between different branches of the central government-run school chain Kendriya Vidyalaya as his father was in a transferable job with the corporate affairs ministry.

“It built an ability to adapt to new conditions, cities, social norms, language and culture. It was both challenging and fun," he said.

He also moved away from a family tradition when he decided to study at IIT Delhi rather than take up chartered accountancy like his father and two siblings. “It was my first departure of sorts from a family of CAs. I decided on IIT Delhi because my parents were posted there," he said.

Moreover, he decided to stay put in India rather than trudge the well-treaded path of heading to the US for his masters. After a two-year stint at Tata Consultancy Services, a second attempt at the Common Entrance Test for management studies saw him join IIM Ahmedabad batch of 1999 along with Neeraj Aggarwal, now managing director of Boston Consulting Group India.

“Always sharp, efficient, with clarity of thought, he took decisions that mattered," said Aggarwal of Gupta. They were in the same marketing team at IIM-A and Gupta was always ready for challenges, which included writing and directing a play in their inter-class competition.

Aggarwal had a role, too, in the play, which was about parent-child relationship. Despite being surprised at the `atypical' artistic trait in his friend, they won the competition. “He was shy, would cede ground to the others and I had my doubts on his human dimensions, but no more," said Aggarwal.

With a gold medal and a degree, Gupta joined McKinsey in 1999 and worked there till 2010 end. “It was the best finishing school, but after a while living out of suitcases meant no face time with my just-born son and wife,“ he said.

He spoke to the then India head for McKinsey, Adil Zainulbhai, and said he wanted to look at other opportunities that were hectic and gave a five-month notice period. No coaxing made him change his decision and the email from Aditya Birla Group the next day came at just the right time for him.

His initial 18 months in the chairman's office entailed creation of a SWAT team of six members who would advise Birla on his investments and strategies. For someone with a shade over a decade's experience it was not always smooth, dealing with business heads.

But traits picked up during his consulting years helped. “Deeper conversations, fact and logic-based arguments, less of opinions and emotion made them realise that we were taking investor-centric view and not just offering another counter opinion," said Gupta.

Working with Birla, one of his two role models in India Inc, the other being Zainulbhai, helped him weed out the challenges. “A thorough gentleman, peopleoriented, good listener and always asks the right questions," said Gupta of Birla.

After two years, as per plan, he was made in-charge of the group's e-commerce fashion portal, abof.com, which sells about 55 brands, including those of the parent group. The group's study showed that fashion was one-third of India's e-commerce industry and could touch $15 billion by 2019-20.

“Last year, we discussed that although acquisition may look the best way to enter the segment, there was nothing worth buying. Some were either dead or too expensive, so we decided to start from the ground," said Gupta.

Rolled out about a fortnight ago, unlike its competitors such as Jabong, this portal will not give discounts and will display a curated collection rather than a lot of options. With its niche target and select portfolio, it is not expected to clash with Trendin.com, the online store of group firm Madura Fashion & Lifestyle that sells brands such as Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England and People.

“If this is a marathon and at least a 20year game, then we are not late in joining the race," said Gupta.